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Cell phones for the rest of us
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It's great to own a mobile, but who wants to pay for a number of gimmicks that no one ever uses? Here's the low down on affordable handsets without all the pricey extras.
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Do you need 105 different ring tones? Do you plan to watch movies on your mobile? Or send messages with attached pictures of yourself, snapped two seconds ago? Can you afford to play chess or any other game, "live", with another cell phone freak? Do you feel comfortable only if your phone has WAP, GPRS, 3G, and every other fancy technology that is as yet not supported by your local service provider?
Not me and I guess, not you either. When most of us make a decision to buy a mobile phone, we do so to make phone calls.
Ok, ok, we could do with the cheap messaging features as well, but that's it.
We have neither the time nor the inclination to spare on a lot of bizarre applications thought up by marketing geniuses who are desperately scraping around for ways to outsell the other guy.
Don't believe the marketing hype. Mobile phones do turn out plain old models in large numbers. And in most Indian cities you can still buy mobiles in the Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 4,500 range that provide all the basic features one would need.
We shopped around in a few metros to arrive at this shortlist of affordable no-nonsense mobile phones currently available in India. The Nokia 3315 is possibly the most popular model. The 3315 is priced a little less than Rs. 5,000 in most Indian cities. Another affordable piece is Motorola's T 190 (Rs. 4,000). It is giving way to the T 191, but is still widely available. Alcatel is a company that has a number of budget models. The OneTouchMax db or OneTouchEasy db are both priced at Rs. 3,200. The Siemens offering in the no-frills end of the business is the A 35 (Rs. 4,700) or the C 28 (Rs. 4,200).
Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Panasonic are the three other popular brands in India. But when we checked last week, we could not find models widely on offer that cost less than Rs. 5,000. The situation keeps changing, of course.
If these prices are not obtainable in your town, you might like to shop on the Internet. We found most of the prices mentioned above at Indian web stores such as www.ebuyguru.com, www.sifymall.com, www.fabmall.com, and www.phonegarage.com. It is worth shopping between neighbourhood shops and the Web till you get the best price. We are only talking of authorised dealers who will give you a proper receipt and a warranty.
If you have just decided to spend your hard earned money on your first cell phone, the shallow end of the telecom pool is the place to start. It'll help keep head (and purse) above water.
A. VISHNU
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
Visakhapatnam
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